Whatever you want
Immediate Rewards Predict Adherence to Long-Term Goals
Kaitlin Woolley & Ayelet Fishbach
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
People primarily pursue long-term goals, such as exercising, to receive delayed rewards (e.g., improved health). However, we find that the presence of immediate rewards is a stronger predictor of persistence in goal-related activities than the presence of delayed rewards. Specifically, immediate rewards (e.g., enjoyment) predicted current persistence at New Year’s resolutions whereas delayed rewards did not (Study 1). Furthermore, immediate rewards predicted persistence in a single session of studying and exercising whereas delayed rewards did not, even though people report primarily pursuing these activities for delayed rewards (Studies 2 and 3). This is true for both short (1 week) and long (3 month) time frames (Study 4), and regardless of whether anticipated or materialized rewards are assessed (Study 5). Overall, whereas delayed rewards may motivate goal setting and the intentions to pursue long-term goals, a meta-analysis of our studies finds that immediate rewards are more strongly associated with actual persistence in a long-term goal.
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The “Batman Effect”: Improving Perseverance in Young Children
Rachel White et al.
Child Development, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study investigated the benefits of self-distancing (i.e., taking an outsider's view of one's own situation) on young children's perseverance. Four- and 6-year-old children (N = 180) were asked to complete a repetitive task for 10 min while having the option to take breaks by playing an extremely attractive video game. Six-year-olds persevered longer than 4-year-olds. Nonetheless, across both ages, children who impersonated an exemplar other — in this case a character, such as Batman — spent the most time working, followed by children who took a third-person perspective on the self, or finally, a first-person perspective. Alternative explanations, implications, and future research directions are discussed.
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Goal Attainability and Performance: Evidence from Boston Marathon Qualifying Standards
Mariya Burdina, Scott Hiller & Neil Metz
Journal of Economic Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In this paper we test if performance improves once goals become more attainable. Goal-setting literature suggests that workers respond to challenging but achievable goals with increased performance. Empirical evidence supports the notion of goals increasing performance, however the evidence on how attainability of goals affects performance is mixed. This paper tests whether efforts increase, improving performance as the goals become more attainable. We are employing a unique set of publicly available marathon data from 1970-2015 to directly analyze the effect of goal attainability on performance. With the probable goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, we test if runners increase their effort, and consequently improve their performance if they enter a new age group and as a result have a more attainable goal. We find that runners who enter a new age group perform better than the runners whose qualifying time did not change. This effect is seen with runners in younger age groups, but not found in the results of runners in more advanced years.
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Knowledge of the Self-Control Benefits of High-Level Versus Low-Level Construal
Karen MacGregor et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research indicates that inducing high-level construal (processing that highlights invariant, essential features) relative to low-level construal (processing that highlights idiosyncratic, peripheral features) promotes self-control (Fujita & Carnevale, 2012). In the present work, we investigate to what extent people recognize the self-control benefits of high-level construal, and explore the consequences of this knowledge. Studies 1 and 2 provide initial evidence that individuals are aware that high-level relative to low-level construal promotes self-control in the dieting domain. Studies 3 and 4 find that individual differences in this knowledge predict self-control success outcomes (i.e., body mass index) among those who are motivated by dieting goals. Examining academics as a domain of self-control, Study 5 demonstrates that those with higher knowledge of construal level’s impact on self-control earned higher end-of-semester grades to the extent that they were motivated to do well academically. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
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Clicks as a Healthy Alternative to Bricks: How Online Grocery Shopping Reduces Vice Purchases
Elke Huyghe et al.
Journal of Marketing Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although consumers are concerned about their health, obesity statistics suggest that contextual factors often lead them to choose unhealthy alternatives (i.e., vices) rather than healthy ones (i.e., virtues). Noting the increasing prevalence of online grocery shopping, the authors focus on shopping channels as one such contextual factor and investigate how food choices made online differ from food choices made in a traditional brick-and-mortar store. A database study and three lab experiments demonstrate that consumers choose relatively fewer vices in the online shopping environment. Moreover, this shopping channel effect arises because online channels present products symbolically, whereas offline stores present them physically. A symbolic presentation mode decreases the products’ vividness, which in turn diminishes consumers’ desire to seek instant gratification and ultimately leads them to purchase fewer vices. These findings highlight several unexplored differences between online and offline shopping, with important implications for consumers, public policy makers, and retailers.
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Self-affirmation improves performance on tasks related to executive functioning
Philine Harris, Peter Harris & Eleanor Miles
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Objectives: The current study explored the effect of self-affirmation on two aspects of performance that have been related to executive functioning: working memory (assessed by a 2-back task) and inhibition (assessed by a Stroop task). The goal was to establish whether self-affirmation improved performance on these tasks.
Method: Participants (N = 83) were randomized to either a self-affirmation or a control task and then completed the computerized tasks, in a fixed sequence.
Results: Self-affirmed participants performed better than non-affirmed participants on both tasks.
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Self-Control and Peer Groups: An Empirical Analysis
Marco Battaglini, Carlos Díaz & Eleonora Patacchini
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, February 2017, Pages 240–254
Abstract:
We exploit the exogenous variation in peer groups generated by high school to college transitions to study the theoretical predictions of Battaglini et al. (2005) model of self-control in peer groups. We find evidence consistent with the two key predictions of this theory regarding the relationship between an agent's expected level of self-control and the size and composition of his or her social circles: (i) students embedded in social circles have more self-control than those who are alone and their self-control is increasing in the size of their social group; (ii) students’ self-control is, however, a non-monotonic hump-shaped function of the average self-control of their friends.
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Cavum Septum Pellucidum Volume and Life History Strategy
Curtis Dunkel et al.
Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Life history (LH) theory is an increasingly important evolutionary framework for understanding patterns among individual differences. However, developments in LH theory have not been accompanied by research on the neuroanatomy underlying these individual differences. The current investigation is an initial attempt to make a connection between individual differences in LH strategy and the neuroanatomy of the brain by examining the association between cavum septum pellucidum (CSP) and LH strategy. CSP is the space between the leaflets of the septum pellucidum and CSP size has been found to be predictive of numerous psychological illnesses. Moreover, the nomological network of CSP size is similar to that found for LH strategy. Thus, it was hypothesized that CSP size would also be associated with LH strategy. Using structural MRI data from the Human Connectome Project on 542 participants, the relationship between CSP volume and LH strategy, covitality, personality and a Super-K factor composed of the 3 factors was examined. Consistent with predictions, CSP volume was associated with all of the indicators of LH strategy. Additional analyses using the method of correlated vectors supported the CSP volume-LH strategy association. The results are discussed in terms of why this relationship exists, along with a prescription for additional research connecting LH theory and neuroscience.